News & Insights
The World’s Sport
In the wake of an entertaining FIFA World Cup, many of us may be reeling in our recollections of the wide variety of memorable upsets that took place. Whether it be the Saudi Arabia team starting their tournament with a victory over eventual champions Argentina, or the Moroccan team knocking out Spain, the tournament was […]
News & Insights
Navigating the Sea Change
As we reflect on 2022, most investors will agree that it was challenging year. However, we can also take a prospective view that the challenges of 2022 have provided a much healthier opportunity set for investors looking into 2023 and beyond. For equity investors, depending on the strategy, most diversified indices saw losses that clustered […]
News & Insights
Stop Concentrating. Start Amplifying.
A well-known adage is that risk and reward go hand in hand. To increase your potential upside, you must be willing to withstand increasing levels of uncertainty as to whether that upside will be achieved. The prospect of becoming a famous actor in Hollywood sounds enticing, until you realize that there are very few leading […]
News & Insights
Who Killed the Phillips Curve?
As central banks around the world continue to tighten monetary policy in an effort to tame inflation, the question on everyone’s mind is if monetary policy will be able to slay the inflationary dragon without plunging the economy into a recession. Rhetoric from the Federal Reserve (Fed) would suggest that monetary policymakers have come to […]
News & Insights
Financial Literacy: What Is It Good For?
Many families struggle with conversations about money. When this includes potentially large inheritances, it can be very difficult knowing when to begin these discussions with the next generation. Do they have the skills to manage large amounts of capital? How will you help them understand this is more about passing on a legacy than money? […]
News & Insights
Deus Ex Machina, Figuratively
Machine learning and artificial intelligence have seen a precipitous rise in popularity and noteworthiness over the past few decades, and with increasing vigor over the past few years. It seems like everyone and their dog is doing machine learning to solve some sort of problem. This herculean rise in popularity can be quantified by the […]
News & Insights
Killing Me Softly
Just over a year ago, we wrote about a behavioural bias called the “freak-out” effect where sharp market downturns cause investors to “panic sell.” The authors of the paper studying the freak-out effect found that of the investors who engaged in panic-selling behaviour, 30.9% of these investors never reinvested in risk assets (i.e., the stock market). The […]
News & Insights
The Evolution of Alpha
The concept of alpha is the bedrock of financial markets. Without getting into the nuances of the active versus passive debate, investment managers aim to provide alpha to investors for which they charge a fee for their services. At its core, alpha is generally defined as excess return relative to a benchmark. The excess return can come from […]
News & Insights
Walking the Tightrope with the Fed
Back in February, I wrote an article called FOMC Gymnastics and a Potential Policy Misstep, which explored the likelihood that the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) could make a policy misstep that would have negative implications for asset prices. That piece explored five factors which made the current tightening cycle more difficult to interpret: An inflationary […]